The Return Of Ripper
by GilesBabe
Summary: Marijuana and magic are a serious combo. What happens when Giles' get talked into smoking with the Scoobies and Ethan works a little mischief in the background? Ripper makes an encore and chaos ensues. With time running short, will Buffy be able to bring Giles back before he's gone for good? Buffy/Giles Buffy/Ripper Ethan/Giles/Ripper (only if you squint, though)
1. Magic and Marijuana

As the night grew later, Rupert Giles grew even more anxious. It was 8:45, and Buffy was supposed to have been at his place at 7 for patrol. Although tardiness was expected of her, complete and utter abandonment was not. He thrust his hands into his jean pockets and paced restlessly by the telephone.

Unbeknownst to him, a tall lanky figure emerged from the shadows outside his flat and peered in at him through the window.

"Well, well, well, having a lovely night in, aren't we? Old mate, you're in for a quite a surprise." Ethan Rayne sneered under his breath as he glared at the Watcher. "I truly miss the old you, Ripper, before you went all, domestic on me. It's been too long. You should come out and play."

Magic welled up inside the old sorcerer as he chanted a quick spell in Latin and his eyes flashed gold.

Giles awoke a few moments later, infuriated and confused, in the middle of his dining room floor.

 _Useless fuckin' berk. Can't even walk around your own damn flat without getting knocked out…_

He thought to himself, as he rose to his feet.

 _I could be dead right now and no one would even know, because a certain Slayer of mine decided to go absolutely fucking AWOL! Where the bloody hell is she? Oh for god's sake…_

With a murderous gleam in his eyes, Giles hastened up to the loft, threw on an old jumper, his gold earring, and his Doc Martins, and strode back down to the den. He swiped a handful of wooden stakes from the chest and set out in a fury to find his Slayer.

A menacing Ethan followed behind him in the distance.

3 Hours Earlier

"Hey Buffster, wait up!" Xander called out as Buffy slipped out the back door of the Sunnydale High Library and out onto the sunset lit streets of California.

Since Giles and Buffy were doing some mojo Watcher/Slayer training, Willow, Oz, and Xander were temporarily banned from the library. With nothing else to do, except wait on Buffy, they climbed into the back of Oz's van, pulled out a deck of cards and started to play. One thing led to another, and Oz pulled his stash out from underneath the driver's seat and rolled a joint. The three spent the hour smoking and playing. Buffy was twenty feet out of the library back door before any of them even remembered that they were waiting on her. It was then that Xander bolted out of the side door of the van and called after Buffy.

"Hey Buffster, wait up!" He said as he ran after her. Immediately, she stopped and turned around, as if she knew he was already there.

"Xander, what are you doing here?" She said as he approached her, gasping for breath. "I thought you guys left?"

"No, no, we were going to wait on you, but we didn't figure we'd end up going gray before you got out of there! How does Giles manage to keep you that occupied for _that_ long?" He said, panting.

Ignoring his question, Buffy sniffed the air, and noticed Xander's all too chill expression. A smile spread across her face.

"You guys better have saved some for me, assholes!" she said, awe struck. "What's the occasion? Celebrating a birthday, anniversary, or test passed?" She grinned.

"Oh, nothing, we were going to smoke and then go to the Bronze to dance. Cibo Matto's playing tonight and she just sounds so much better when I'm high to be honest." Xander grinned and rubbed his hands together mischievously.

"You in?"

"Of course I'm in, but we gotta make it quick. I've got patrol with Giles in a little while. Faith joining?"

"We might could pick her up, but only if you keep the leash short on her. The last thing we need is to be kicked out of the Bronze, again." He winked.

"Can't make any promises, sorry. I'm sure technique wise, I could easily take her, but she fights damn good and dirty when she's high." She winked back at him as the two made their way back to the van.

An hour later, with the addition of the second Slayer, the Gang had official finished off two more blunts.

While most of them chilled and wafted in the smoke filling the van, Buffy and Faith were hyper, and hyper aware of everything around them. Buffy continually analyzed everyone based on their body language, and Faith kept predicting when Buffy would. Neither could stay still, and Faith was literally crawling out of her skin to slay, or fuck, something, as Willow noticed when Faith's hand found its way on to Xander's thigh.

"Come on guys! I gotta get outta here and do something before I frickin' explode!" Faith exclaimed in the dimly lit van. "For fucks sake!"

"I'll have to admit, I'm kinda with Faith." Buffy said reluctantly.

"If only..." Xander said seductively. He grinned at her, but said nothing.

"Hey there hot-shit, how about we leave the analyzing to B and you shut your mouth." Faith snapped at him.

"We are cranky Slayers. We have pent up energy. But we'll be outta here soon, right Oz? We good?" Buffy asked.

"I'm good to drive, I think." Oz added.

Willow tilted her head towards him and grinned.

"Good! Then it's settled! I say we go to the Bronze, consume much terrible, high calorie bar food, and dance until we lose consciousness!"

Buffy giggled, but no one said anything as Oz crawled into the driver's seat of the van and started it up.

"To the Bronze it is." Oz said to himself as they pulled out of the parking lot into the night.

After his own brief patrol of the various Sunnydale "hotspots" for vampires on his quest to find Buffy, to no avail, the incoherently furious Giles decided to check for her at the local hangouts, mainly the Bronze.

As he walked in to the dimly lit club, his senses were immediately bombarded with blaring music the smell of alcohol.

 _Damn it, Buffy, if you're not here and I spend all night in this…, din looking for you, I'm gonna…_

He inwardly grinned like Ripper as his thoughts momentarily flickered to the wicked idea of teaching her a lesson the way he thought it ought to be taught, but he immediately disregarded it and tried to get the provocative image out of his mind.

 _Bloody hell, Rupert, get your mind out of the gutter, you old fool…_

To Giles, it was absurd for anyone to even think that just because he was her Watcher, people would assume he automatically wasn't attracted to Buffy's outward beauty, when anyone with eyes was. And the age dilemma was to him, no dilemma at all.

 _For god's sake, I'm 200 years younger than her last boyfriend!_ He thought, hopelessly.

Giles subconsciously flexed his fingers at the thought of the vampire, until the feeling subsided.

How could he not fall in love with her? Buffy was no child, Giles knew she hadn't been for a while now. He spent many a day and night with her, had only her shoulder to cry on after Jenny's death, very nearly had to beat Snyder to a pulp so she could return to school to graduate, watched and helped her through apocalypse and heartbreak and death and school, and had even stayed with Buffy through his firing from Travers and the Council.

 _Father's love my ass. Pillock._

Truth be told, if _anyone_ had gone through what they'd gone through together, and come to know Buffy the way he had, they would have fallen in love with her as well. She was too lovely for them not to.

But Giles was reserved, and he completely brushed aside any notion of her reciprocating his feelings long ago. In his mind, it made no difference to him. He would stay with her and guide her and love her in the way she needed. Until it killed him, or god forbid she died again. If there was anything Giles was not, it was a selfish lover.

 _Damn it Rupert, focus!_

Giles shook his head and continued through the crowd searching for her blonde hair.

Not finding her anywhere, and getting more frustrated and more Ripper like every second, Giles angrily whipped around as fast as he could with the intention of storming out of the Bronze, but instead found himself on his ass.

As he groaned and opened his eyes with the aim of punching the idiot who came barreling into him, he instead found his Slayer sprawled across his chest.

"Uh oh." She said, as he glared up at her.


	2. Thorns, Thistles, and Weed(s)

"Hi Giles." She said softly, inches from his face. She gave him the sweetest, innocent smile she could muster, but made no attempts in getting off of him.

Flustered, Giles tried to pull himself away, but she had his arms pinned to the ground, suddenly, she started giggling at his struggle, which made him even angrier.

"Erm, Buffy, would it trouble you ever so much to get off me and tell me where the _bloody hell_ you've been for the last three hours, other than here, presumably?!" He managed out with her weight on his stomach.

"Sorry…" She said with a pout as she retreated off of him and let him regain his composure.

"Oh no, you don't get to do that to me! The "pouty-lip, begging puppy eyes, feel bad for me" face! I'm putting my foot down! If anyone should be pouting, it's me!" Giles said to her sternly, with a huff.

"I'm sorry, Giles, I didn't think we'd be out this late…"

"We, you mean Xander and Willow thought it was okay to allow you to skip patrol too, with no concern for the repercussions? Really, Buffy? I thought you all more responsible than this!"

"Oz and Faith are here, too."

He continued to glare at her.

"Giles." Buffy purred. "Just relax…"

She slid closer to him and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Come hang out with _us_ for once, and not your dusty books or your musty cemeteries. Be a kid again. It'll be fun." She cooed.

"Buffy! You are acting truly abnormal! What is wrong with you? Are you drunk?" He questioned angrily.

"Giles, quit being so damn tight assy." She pushed him away, a little too hard, he noted. "And no, for your information, I'm not drunk! They totally card here, you know that! Plus, drinking is messy and gross afterwards and I have no interest in having the leftovers from last night a second time." She rambled off.

"Buffy, you don't have to be afraid to be honest with me. I have been in your shoes before." Her eyes glimmered up at his as he put his hand on her shoulder. "However, I'd like to let you know that in no way does this excuse your blatantly selfish disregard for your duties as a Slayer, and I won't have it happen again. You are held to a higher standard than others in my eyes, Buffy. I'd rather you just be honest with me than…"

Suddenly, she paused, muttered something under her breath, and the expression on her face slowly morphed into a smirk…

"Hmmm?" Giles said, peering at her quizzically.

"I'm not drunk…" She murmured, just soft enough so that Giles couldn't hear her. She was using very bit of her willpower to not break out in hysterical laughter. "But, I am hiiiiigh."

"What? Buffy, do speak up, I can't here you over this blasted noise."

She reached up on her tiptoes and put her lips and inch from his face and whispered… "I'm hiiiigh." She froze mere fractions from his face as he peered at her.

"Pardon, Buffy, did you just say you were… under the influence?"

"You caught me red handed, officer. I'm baked like a chocolate cake."

Before he could even react, Buffy leaned back and burst into a fit of giggles and outright laughter so loud that a few people heard her over the blaring music.

"Oh, for god's sake, Buffy!" He practically yelled. "You've been smoking marijuana? Who did you get it from? Have you done this before? Did you get it from someone reliable? Buffy, why must you do these things on my watch? I am responsible for you, you know! What the hell has gotten in to you?" He said, imploring her to stop laughing and think clearly.

"God, Giles, do you think it's possible for you to yell that just a little louder? I think the people in L.A need to hear it again!" She snapped.

"Quit freaking out! You're not my parent, and I wish you'd just stop acting like it, for once! I don't care if you're older than me! I already have a dad, thanks, so quit trying to be the replacement. Oh, and Giles, I'm not stupid enough to smoke some random shit off a stranger. It's Oz's, but thanks for thinking I'm an idiot."

The Ripper-like expression dropped from his face unusually fast.

"Buffy, please forgive me. I… I don't know what got into me… I've been feeling odd all night long. I have no idea why I've been so... angry." He stuttered out.

"I, I simply was making sure you were okay. We were supposed to patrol tonight, and when you didn't show up, I got worried. I came out looking for you and found my way here."

"Oh…" She said quietly. "In all fairness, I kinda, accidentally, completely forgot about meeting you before patrol… I'm sorry."

"I understand how it might have _slipped your mind_ , however, what I do not understand, is why in the world are all of you smoking…"

He lowered his voice.

"… smoking marijuana in the first place? Do you all do this often?"

"No, we don't smoke it that much, Giles, but smoking weed is like, an inescapable teenage experience. Anyone who's ever been a teenager in their life has smoked weed, so why would you think we'd be any different? Hell, we have to deal with apocalypses and vampires and demons and shit, you'd think we'd be the ones smoking the most!"

"I guess I just expected better from you. I do think rather highly of you, as you know."

"Giles, you pretend like we don't know about your crazed Ripper days. You're telling me you never smoked weed all those years? Yeah, right."

"I did, and much worse, Buffy, and I've had to carry around all the pain and anger I caused not only others, but myself, on my conscious every single day since. I figured maybe you would have learned from my mistakes." He glared at her.

She stood in silence as the weight of what he just said lingered in her mind.

"I'm sorry" was all she could manage before he hugged her.

"Buffy, you are an amazing woman, and I am fully aware that you are not only old enough, but wise enough to make your own choices, so I will respect them as such. Just please be careful. I couldn't bear for you to do anything you may regret later, as I did. " He said, quickly withdrawing from the embrace and changing the subject.

"Where is everyone else?"

"They're upstairs on the balcony. We were about to smoke the last of it and dance some more, if you wanted to, maybe, stay with me… us?" She quickly corrected.

"I mean, you don't _have_ to smoke, or stay at all, if it brings back bad memories… It'd just be kind of cool to hang out with you, not Watcher you, but, you know, the real Rupert Giles, you. That was a lot of "you's," She said with small smile.

"Buffy, I can hardly, if at all, condone this behavior, never mind participate in it! I'm sorry, but I simply cannot cross that line." He said sternly.

"Oh… Alright… Sorry I asked…" She said regretfully, beginning to pout.

"But…," He interrupted her. "… Because I fear for the state of the bar currently containing two vampire Slayers, a werewolf, a witch, and _Xander,_ allunder the influence, I will, stick around and "hang out" as you so call it." He grinned at her.

At this, Buffy squealed and wrapped her arms around him.

"Just, so I can make sure you have fun safely." He managed to choke out, despite her arms crushing his ribcage.

She grinned up at him and squealed again.

"Yes! But no Mr. Stuffy! I want to hang with Rupert Giles tonight, the chill, witty, friend, not 'His Royal Highness, King Tweed Briefs', got it?"

"Erm, very well. Speaking of attire, I'd like to apologize for the state of my clothes. I'm afraid when I dressed I wasn't preparing to be very social…" He said, looking at the old jumper he wore over his jeans.

"Giles." She said staring at him seriously. "What did I just say about "King Tweed Briefs"?"

"Sorry… That was rather English and, stuffy, was it not?" He smiled. "It's a bit of a habit."

"Well… don't worry about the sweater! I like it; it looks more comfy than what you normally wear and it makes you look… chiller than normal." Her eyes flickered up and down him subtly, until she noticed the gold hoop he wore in his left ear.

"Earring and all... Ooh, Giles! Been up to anything mischievous lately as well? I haven't seen you wear that since the whole 'Band Candy' ordeal!" She said grinning at him.

"No, not particularly. Now that I think about it, I don't even remember why I put it in…" He muttered, confused.

He brushed it from his mind and smiled at her.

"Then again if I did do anything mischievous, I wouldn't plan… It's much more fun to act on impulse."  
He grinned as he draped his arm around her waist and headed for the stairs, much to her surprise.

"What's this?" She asked him genuinely.

"This is impulse, and a little taste of, as you put it, "Rupert Giles, the chill, witty, friend"." He smiled as he guided the small of her back with his hand as they climbed the stairs.

"Oh."

"Erm, Buffy, you forget to mention the very small, yet vitally important detail to all of this. " He said, pausing in realization, withdrawing his arm from her waist.

"What?"

"How have you been smoking marijuana in the Bronze without getting caught?"

"Doesn't matter, not really sure, ask Xander. Now less talky, more walky, and _much_ more holdy." Buffy said as she pulled his arm back around her waist and bounded up the stairs, flustered Watcher in tow.


	3. Bluntness is Key

"Well look who finally came back with the food… without actually getting food, and bringing a person, a Giles-like person back instead, um, Xander…." Oz stammered out.

"Uh, oh…" Willow let out with an "eep", followed by an extremely delayed reaction from Xander, who looked at Oz, looked at Giles, looked at the blunt in his own hand, then looked back at Giles, and finally choked on his drink, much to Faith's amusement.

"Well B…" Faith said as she noticed Giles' arm around Buffy's waist. "I always said your Watcher was a major hottie! I'm jealous, B! You're finally getting yourself some of that?!" She said, provocatively gesturing and grunting.

Buffy pulled away from him and gushed.

"Oh, no, _ew_ , um, it's not like that. He was just, um… Giles was just looking for me and he was really worried because I forgot about patrol, so he came here and stumbled upon me, literally, because I bumped into him and I accidentally fell on him, um, and then I explained to him what happened, after I got off of him, of course, and I said that he should chill out too and he said no to the pot part but he would hangout and so I made him promise to be friend Rupert Giles, and have a little fun, so here he is, but only cause he was worried about me, which is actually really sweet, and I'm really just rambling and not actually saying anything to help my case am I?"

Faith continued her tasteless grunting and gesturing, Xander just stared at her, Willow blushed, and Oz just looked at them, nodded, and returned to his thoughts, as if she had just told him something he obviously already knew.

She glanced at Giles, expecting him to be blushing like a school girl after her little ramble, but instead, she found he was simply smirking at her.

She smiled back.

"I'm just a little hyper, okay? Don't worry, I'm good." She said as she followed Giles to the booth and slid in beside him.

For the next few moments, every one sat in awkward silence, trying to get used to the fact that Giles was there, and he wasn't completely wigging about them smoking pot. Xander was so nervous that he didn't even take his hit; he hastily threw the blunt at Oz and pretentiously bobbed his head to the music, trying to look as innocent as possible.

"Okay, that's it. I'm done with being weird, and if everyone _else_ is done being weird, I'm gonna smoke the last of that shit, and if our Buffy's date doesn't mind, you guys can join me." Faith said abruptly. Oz just handed her the blunt and went back to his business.

"He's not my… Um, I mean… I…."

"Guys, Giles is like, fifty. Last time I checked, our Buffy was no 'senorita lolita'." Xander interrupted as he looked at them all horrified. "No offense Giles but…"

"I'd say there were offense, you clot…"

"… but, you're old. Like, you're _old_ old."

"Okay, I maybe _older_ than you all, but I am most definitely not " _old"_ old. He skewered his face at the repetition, shook his head, and content that he got his point across, glanced around to the gang, who he found to be peering at him with amused expressions.

"Well, Angel had two hundred bloody years on me!" He barked, blushing hotly.

"Touchy subject much, G-Man? I was just joking around. I didn't think you actually cared what Buffy thought..."

 _Pillock. Oh, bloody hell Rupert._

"Giles does kind of have a point… Angel was not only a vampire, but he was alive before cars were invented. And that didn't matter to Buffy. She loved him for who he was on the inside. The only difference is that Giles looks a little older, but what he's lacking in the 'immortality and rippling abs department', he makes up for with his having a heartbeat and his devotion to Buffy, also there's no fear of him going psycho crazy killer if Buffy…" Willow chimed in, much to the horror of everyone, especially Buffy.

"Okay guys, can we _please_ not talk about this right now!?" Buffy snapped. "Thanks."

"Ah, yes, let's please not kill the 'good vibes'..." Giles added, rolling his eyes.

Buffy peered at him, incredulously.

"Good _vibes_?" She questioned.

"… and second of all, might I inquire how the hell you are all so boldly smoking _that_ in here without being caught?" He said, expecting Xander to respond sarcastically.

"Probably just 'cause it's expected. Everyone does it." Willow piped up, dreamily. "Once, we even caught Cordelia and the Bitch Squad up here smoking. It was really funny; they obviously hadn't done it before." Willow said with an evil grin.

Xander glanced up at her at the mention of Cordelia, but said nothing.

"I watched them struggling to breathe and I found it very entertaining, do you think I should be worried about that? Oh, well…" Willow continued, and Oz raised his eyebrow at her.

"Right… then…" Oz glanced over to Giles. "We good?"

"Oh, oh, very well, but I'll be on the lookout just in case."

"You do that, Mr. Lookout Man." Xander grinned at him through the haze.

Giles had no idea what he'd gotten himself into.

Twenty minutes later, the group had already finished the entire blunt and Oz was rolling a second.

Buffy was bouncing out of her skin and Faith was very nearly sitting in Xander's lap, much to his embarrassment. Giles and everyone else sat back relaxed, as they peered at the commotion in amusement.

The smell of the marijuana _was_ bringing memories of his youth back to Giles.

 _Lord. I'm getting a little buzzed purely from secondhand smoke. It really has been a while hasn't it?_

He closed his eyes, stretched his arm across Buffy's shoulders, and titled his head back to enjoy the music swelling up from below them.

Suddenly, he smelled smoke being blown into his face. He looked down to Buffy, who was chuckling after she noticed his eyes closed.

"You like you could use a hit." She smiled sweetly and held the blunt towards him.

The rest of the gang echoed Buffy's proposition and encouraged him to do so.

 _Surely one hit wouldn't hurt, Ripper, old boy. Come on… Don't be so "tight assy"._

Buffy's words rang through his mind and urged him on, but he decided against so, for now, and remained steadfast.

"I'm sure. Thank you, though." He said, returning the smile, sweetly. "I feel pleasantly chill just enjoying your company right now."

Buffy's face instantly shifted into a sad little pout as she reached passed Giles to pass the blunt to Faith.

 _Really, Buffy… Must you do that?_ He thought to himself.

She looked up at him with her puppy dog eyes and stuck her bottom lip out farther.

"Buffy, I told you once; I'm here solely to make sure you have fun safely. And don't think sitting there and pouting will get to me, because it won't."

Suddenly her bottom lip began quivering, and she faux sniveled.

 _Keep quivering that little bottom lip of yours at me and I'll bite it._

Ripper thought wickedly, then immediately shook it out of his head.

"It's not getting to me." He said to her, less confidently.

 _Oh, for fuck's sakes._

"Oh, maybe." He gave in, against his better judgement.

At this, she flashed him one of her thousand watt smiles, and he grinned back at her.

 _I'm in for it now, aren't I?_ Giles wondered.

The next pass around when Faith took her hit, she shared it with Xander by breathing it into his open, gawking mouth.

This time, Giles was the one to choke, as the second Slayer kissed the poor stunned boy nearly senseless.

Xander, after getting over his initially trauma, realized what Faith was doing, and turned to his left to pass it to the next person. When he saw Oz looking at him, his eyes nearly crossed, but Oz leaned in casually, and Xander reluctantly passed it to him, with much whooping and hollering from Faith and Willow. Oz sweetly kissed Willow, who in turn, leaned across the table seductively, blushed, and then passed it to Buffy, who looked at Giles wickedly as she kissed Willow. Giles' jaw dropped, and gave Buffy just the chance she was looking for.

Slayer reflexes beat Watcher reflexes any day, a thousand to one, and today was another one of those days.

Before Giles could physically blink, Buffy leaned in and kissed him, causing him to gasp and accidentally breathe in the smoke. When he instinctively closed his lips, she pulled back, and trapped him with both the smoke in his lungs and a blush redder than the lip gloss she just accidentally smudged on his lips.

Xander spit out his drink.

Giles closed his eyes, held his breath, and tried his best not to let his agonizing inner turmoil show on his face.

 _I am 40 year old man with no friends over the age of 18 and a tendency to get knocked on the head. I just allowed my barely legal Slayer, who I already have inappropriate feelings towards, kiss me and breathe marijuana smoke into my lungs. It's official. My soul is eternally damned._

Giles opened his eyes. Everyone in the group was staring at him apprehensively. He could do one of two things: chastise them all like a pompous wanker and run away, or relax and stop giving a damn for once.

Spurred by both the marijuana and Buffy's kiss, he chose the latter.

 _Fuck it. Too late to go back now, I suppose._

Slowly, he exhaled the smoke, coughed slightly, and curled his lips up in a small smile.

The relieved Scoobies exploded in applause, causing Giles to blush and look around shiftily.

"What have I gotten myself into? Good lord." He said, and then chuckled, amused at his own pompous voice.

Buffy swore, that was the last time he said anything Giles-like for the rest of his high.

After Faith tried to straddle Xander in the booth, Giles took his hit, and then vigorously cleaned his glasses.

 _Note to self, don't get on the bad side of a high Slayer. *_ pause* _On second thought, it may not be such a dreadful notion…_

Giles' left lens popped aggressively out of his glasses and fell into his lap.

 _Oh, blimey. This was not a good idea. Control yourself, Ripper._

The next two rounds, Giles was cautious about taking his hit, and still a little embarrassed over his previous thoughts; he took them anyway to keep Buffy smiling.

The sixth and seventh passes were taken willingly.

By the eighth, he and the rest of the gang were giggling uncontrollably.

By the tenth, the group conversation had turned deeper and time was standing completely still for Giles, who had become even quieter than Oz, and was simply observing them all. He watched Buffy as she subconsciously, rubbed her neck as she recounted her trauma with Angel. It made Giles grimace with pity and empathy. He watched her finger tips trail sensually up the soft, glistening skin of her neck and into her soft, honey blonde hair. It was all he could focus on. Unbeknownst to Giles, Faith passed the blunt to Xander, who, instead of taking his hit, stopped for a moment to lock eyes with him.

"So, G-man, enough about us, we never get to hear your childhood trauma. Tell us about all the fun-stuff, I meant stuff, er, you did during your freakazoid "Ripper years", other than… Well… the obvious…" He scratched the back of his head in frustration and looked up innocently. "You know what I mean."

Buffy looked at Xander with eyes wide in horror, until she noticed Giles' expression. He was reclined comfortably, with his arm around her, and was twirling a strand of her hair around his finger casually, as if he regularly touched her so intimately in public. Buffy was surprised at how normal it felt for him, and for her.

Upon Xander's prying, Giles' mouth curled into a smirk as if he was slightly nostalgic over the chaos that was his early twenties.

"Yeah, Giles!" Willow piped in with a dazed smile. "How'd you don the nickname "Ripper" anyway?"

At this, Giles laughed. It wasn't a dismissive chuckle, much to Buffy's surprise. It was low, almost a growl, and he was grinning wildly. The weed was obviously affecting him, for he wasn't acting like himself, but it seemed as if Buffy was the only one noticing. Why were they all so calm with him being so touchy with her? Why wasn't anyone saying "ew" or "gross" when he so openly flirted with her, or was so aggressive? Buffy pondered all of this in her mind as if the conversation going on around her was simply a background noise.

Giles chuckled mischievously at the confused and disappointed reaction he received from the group upon his anti-climactic response.

"I think what he's trying to say is 'it's all a crock of shit'." Faith said, sarcastically.

"Faith! Shut up!" Ripper barked at her, then continued.

"… As I was saying, so I met Ethan in this dingy little pub in the slums of London. Mind you, I'd only the night before, watched a team of fellow Watcher's get slaughtered, while I stood by like a helpless, sod of shit, so I'm feeling pretty at ends with myself. So he comes up to me, this lanky little wanker, and we start talking, and he asks me my name, and I'm just trying to brood in peace and I just want him to leave me alone, so I sure as hell can't say Rupert, because let's be honest, it's not a very intimidating name, so the first thing to blurt out of my blasted mind is "Ripper" and the berk believes me and buys me a drink. We start talking and a few shots in, I mention magic, and he tells me that he practices, and to summarize, we become friends, I drop out of Oxford, we get a flat together, and he eventually through all of that, he succeeds in reintroducing me to magic. He had this fixation on me, because of how natural it came to me, with my studies of as a Watcher, I was familiar with ancient languages, and I inherited my inclination towards magics from my mother's side of the family. Anyways, so I fall in with Ethan and his little coven of sorts, and I was sort of forced to act like this "Ripper" chap I'd made up. I just became this person that I always wanted to be." He explained, gesturing with his hands.

"I taught myself how to constructively channel anger to serve my purpose. I'm quite the strategist, and it gives me great pleasure in manipulating others with so much ease. It was really a conduit for all of the repressed rage over my abusive Father, but either way, I learned how to embrace my boldness, my ability to intimidate, and all the rage that I had repressed to control people to get what I wanted… And I'm damn good at it." Suddenly, a spiteful sneer spread across Ripper's face.

"And, while I do sincerely regret Eyghon and Randall's death… "

He leaned in to the group and spoke in a low, gravelly voice.

"I'll admit, I did learn how to have some damn good fun." He said with a grin.

He leaned back again, grinning, casually draped his arm back around Buffy's shoulders, and possessively pulled her against him. He was unfazed by their realization of his advances towards Buffy, and he was calmly accepting the wild looks he was getting from her and the rest of the group. As she looked up at him, his gaze met hers and his eyes gleamed green with intensity like never before, as if he was trying to convey some message to her with his soul. He leaned down and stopped only an inch from her lips, with his eyes locked on her the entire time, he paralyzed Buffy with utter bloodlust swirling through his eyes.

Half of her instinctually parted her lips and said "kiss" _,_ while the other half of her questioned her sanity.

 _Nope, nope, nope, nope. Focus, Buffy. Giles equals old. Old equals gross. Giles equals stuffy, bumbling Watcher; the awkward party poop who acts like he's your dad. He's only acting like this because he's high. Not because he's actually attracted to you. Don't be stupid._

As she came to this conclusion, Buffy swiftly pulled away from the crook of his arm and stood up out of the booth.

After shooting one another concerned looks, oblivious to Giles, the rest of the gang agreed that something not normal was definitely happening.

"Hey Giles, do you mind running down stairs and grabbing some munchies for us…? I mean, I can chip in if it's too-"

"Nonsense, luv." Giles said as he immediately stood to meet Buffy face to face, momentarily halting her breath. "It'd be my pleasure." He winked at her, threw her a grin, threw his hands into the pockets of his jeans and slinked sexually down the stairs, leaving Buffy staring after him entirely flustered and awe struck. She froze for a moment, sat down robotically, hit the blunt, and stared at the wall.

Oz peered over at Willow, who was staring at Buffy with her jaw dropped, and nudged her, but she was too dazed and distracted to respond.

Xander, who had simply given up on the sanity of everybody else, was staring blankly into space, utterly dumbfounded.

It was Faith, who was currently being unusually silent in an attempt to focus her already heightened Slayer senses, which finally broke the silence.

"Anyone else both slightly turned on and slightly disturbed by what just went down?" She said as she raised her hand emphatically and peered at Buffy.

Buffy tried to inconspicuously hide her reddened face, to no avail, and did not raise her hand; Willow gleefully raised her hand with an innocent smile towards Oz. Xander continued staring into oblivion, and Oz, much to the horror of Willow, raised his hand, and nonchalantly responded to the looks he was getting from the group with something he once heard Cordelia say…

"What, I can't have layers?"

The group burst into a fit of hysterics.

"Oh, okay, okay… But really guys, did you see the way he just acted with Buffy, all, sexy, and not Gilesy, on top of the all too pleasant reminiscence of his youth? Especially the hard rock, black magic, cocaine filled part of his youth? That was very _not Giles._ Last time I remember, his memories of that time were not fond at all." Xander said sincerely, amidst all the laughter.

"Yeah guys, this is seriously a little freak-some. It's like the Band Candy incident all over again; maybe pressuring him into smoking with us wrong... Guys, I'm worried about him!" Buffy stated.

"I'm gonna have to agree with you on that." Oz said plainly.

"So… What do we do?" Willow added.

With no reasonable answer, the group sat in awkward silence.

For the second time that night, Faith broke the awkward silence.

"Okay, no, fuck this. We came here to have fun and dance and that," she said glaring at them all, "is what I'm gonna go do. Who cares if G'man is acting a little freaky? Freaky can be good. I'm gonna go grab him and go to the dance floor, and you guys can join, or sit up here and continue being dull, it's up to you."

Buffy shot her Slayer sister a possessive look, and stood to join her, only because she couldn't stand the thought of Faith dancing with Giles.

The rest of the gang reluctantly agreed as well, slid out of the booth, and headed down to the dance floor.


	4. Smoke and Mirrors

After leaving Buffy utterly befuddled, Giles smiled and made his way down the iron staircase into the crowded dancefloor of the Bronze. Cibo Matto cooed in the background as he headed towards the bar. Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks.

 _Oh my god, what the bloody hell was I thinking?! I almost… I… I practically just jumped my Slayer, for god's sakes!_ He thought to himself.

 _You shouldn't have smoked, Rupert. You know how you get when you're high. You're acting like you're twenty again. This is a mistake. Go home now. You're too old for her… For this._

Out of eyeshot, Ethan Rayne casually leaned against the wall of the Bronze, shrouded from Giles view by the mass of people. He silently watched his old friend at conflict with himself, and chuckled.

"Looks like part one has gone smoothly… Better raise the stakes." He grinned.

For the second time that night, Ethan muttered an obscure spell under his breath and his eyes flashed gold once more.

"Time to make the outside match the inside, Ripper, mate."

Across the room, Giles was still internalizing what he'd just done.

"Oh for fucks sake, it's just a little weed, shut up and quit being such a prat, Rupert." He said to himself, blocking out the thought as he made his way through the crowd hastily, and towards the bar.

Suddenly, everything went dark.

When he came to, Ripper could have sworn he'd been knocked over the head. But when he opened his eyes, he noticed he was standing in the Bronze, not lying in a back alley, bleeding and bruised.

"What the hell…" He muttered softly, gazing around the crowd. Evidently, whatever happened to him must have happened very quickly and very subtly, as no one around him was paying him any mind.

 _This is one hell of a trip… I practically feel twenty again…_

"Damn, I need a drink." He said brushing off the blackout and continuing towards the bar.

"I need a pitcher of beer, whatever you have on tap. Oh, and gimme four large orders of chips, fries rather, sorry. While you're at it, I'll have a malt scotch, on the rocks." He cleared his throat.

 _What the hell is wrong with me tonight? Surely the weed wasn't laced… Was it?_

"Hey, hey bud…" The bartender's comment tore Giles from his thoughts and back to reality. "I'm going to need to see some I.D."

In response to this, Giles out right laughed, much to the bartender's confusion.

"God, it's been years since someone carded me. I'm really quite flattered."

The bartender raised an eyebrow and waited, but said nothing.

Giles reluctantly pulled his wallet from his back pocket, pulled his license out and handed it to the bartender. The bartender glanced up at him, down at the license, and then back up to Ripper.

"Listen, man, I don't know if you take me for an idiot but this is obviously not your ID. This guy is like, 60."

"Right bastard you are, I don't look a day over 45, and it was a bad picture." Ripper growled as he snatched his ID back.

 _What the fuck am I saying?_ He thought to himself immediately after his outburst.

"Kid, get out of here. You come back trying to sneak booze again and I'll throw you out on your ass myself."

By the look on the bartender's face, Giles was glad to simply drop the subject and leave rather than getting thrown out and banned from the Bronze, but a part of him wanted nothing more than to beat the bastard senseless. His emotions were running haywire. One moment, Giles was chastising himself for his aggression towards the bartender, the next moment, he was completely different person. His eyes flashed dangerously as the bar man turned his back and grabbed a bottle of liquor off the wall.

 _Kid? How bloody old do you have to be around here to get a damn beer? I'll show that little blighter…_

Giles was staring at the man, fuming with rage, and suddenly, the glass bottle the bartender was holding exploded. It shattered everywhere and embedded into his skin, and the he wailed aloud as liquor and blood pour onto the bar. A group of people gathered around the injured man, and one ran right past Giles, yelling about needing a phone to call an ambulance.

Giles froze with fear.

 _I did that. Dear god I just did that to that man. What the hell is wrong with me? I haven't used magic like that in, decades. Oh god, no. No. I didn't mean to… Bloody hell, I've got to get out of here. Something isn't right… I don't feel like me…_

But the last part was not necessarily true. Physically, he did feel like himself, more than he had in a long time. The headache he'd had earlier from the loud music was gone, and the tension he'd been holding in his lower back had almost dissipated instantly, after he had the blackout, that was.

Looking at the glass shards sticking out of the bartender's hand caused Giles to be overcome with intense nausea, and he darted towards the bathroom. He barged through the door, head down, and locked himself in the first stall. Giles hit his knees in front of the toilet and began vomiting profusely, his head spinning.

 _I've got to go home. Sleep this off. Dear lord..._

Giles raised his head and grimaced as he swallowed. He looked down at his sweater and noticed he hadn't quite hit the toilet all the way. Disgusted, he pulled the sweater off and balled it up. He used it to wipe his mouth and stood, shakily.

 _At least Buffy didn't have to see me like this._

He regained his balance and opened the stall door. This wasn't the first time he'd found himself throwing up in the loo of a bar before, he'd be fine, as long as he could make it home. But as his gaze shifted upwards to his reflection in the mirror, his jaw dropped.

"Oh, no…" Giles whispered.

"Oh, bloody well yes, Ripper, old pal." Ethan Rayne strolled out of the shadows casted in the corner of the bathroom.

Giles looked at Ethan, then back at the young, 20 year old version of himself grinning wildly in the mirror.

His hair was no longer gray and receding, but dark brown and swept off to the side in long, wavy bangs. All the wrinkles by his eyes and mouth were gone, and his jawline and cheekbones were strong once again; the t-shirt he wore was clinging tightly to the taut muscles of his torso and arms, and his jeans seemed visibly tighter, but they felt the same to him as before. His muscles no longer ached, and though his posture was awful, it was relaxed, and he radiated an air of sexuality and dominance. His gold earring completed the 1970's bad boy look. Giles' eyes were vibrant and green and alive with magic and energy again, and the only thing out of place that might even indicate his true age was his now obsolete glasses.

"Ethan, if you know what's good for you, you'll change me back, now. I could pummel you even worse as a twenty year old."

"I really don't understand why in the hell you'd want to change back, Ripper. But, I'm afraid I can't do it, mate. You see, as much as I hate to say it, you and I used to be rather good friends, and I miss the old times. I've just been waiting for an opportunity for you to put your guard down, and tonight, well my, oh my, my wishes came true, tenfold. What's gotten into you Ripper? Smoking pot again? Hanging out with kids like you're one of them? You know your Slayer and her posse just wanted you there to laugh at, old man, and I just couldn't bear to watch them humiliate you. So, I fixed the problem. Now, you'll be the one having the last laugh."

"I very highly doubt you would just do something as drastic as this out of the "goodness of your heart". What's the catch, Ethan?" Giles said, clenching his fists in rage. This was too good to be true; having his physical youth returned to him at no cost. Suddenly, his noticed how out of character his behavior was earlier, and everything fell into place in his mind.

"It's like the band candy, isn't it? First, you change the inside of me, free up my inhibitions and let Ripper out of his cage, and then you change the outside to accompany my newly re-found hatred for the world? I swear to god Ethan, I will kill you in this bathroom with my bare fucking hands if it means that Buffy and her friends will not be hurt. You know what I could do back then, and you know it was always those I cared about the most that, suffered. You want me to lose myself in it all again, don't you?" He said viciously.

"I'm not making you lose yourself, mate, I'm helping you find yourself again. So of course I've gotta have the outside matching the inside, right? To reawaken all that power that's lied dormant for so long, you've gotta have the outside strong enough to handle it. You had a taste with the candy and the weed, but now you're about to down the whole blasted bottle." He sneered.

"It's getting a bit late isn't it, old pal?" Ethan continued. "Your "friends" will be looking for you. What ever will you tell them? It's doubtful you'll be able to control yourself around her, especially now in your, young, sensitive state." He looked deep into Giles' hate filled eyes.

"I know you're still in there Ripper. I see you, even now. Come back to me. It's time for your encore."

He grinned. "Be seeing you."

"You're not leaving until you change me back, Ethan! You pillock, you're trapped." Giles said with a smile, backing Ethan into the corner of the bathroom.

"Really, Ripper? You can't think me that stupid. I've already learned my lesson about having a trapdoor exit prepared before the act starts."

With that, he raised his hand at the same moment Giles' hand shot out towards him.

With a snap of his fingers, and brilliant flash of light, Ethan was gone, leaving a raging Ripper in his wake.


End file.
